Middletown Teens Crowned Prom King And Queen

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Last year we told you how a Middletown South student with special needs, Claire DiGiorgio, asked Chip Liskowitz to prom. Now this year, Claire and her new date, Jeremy Joyce, were actually crowned king and queen of the Middletown South senior prom.

Claire's mom, Valerie, is still marveling at just how accepted her daughter is at Middletown South. She attributes it to the amazing efforts the Middletown school district makes to integrate and include students with special needs. In fact, it was other seniors who nominated Claire and her date this year to be king and queen, and then voted for them to win.

"Middletown South offers a couple of programs that bring the special-needs students and typical students together," said Valerie. "They have Circle of Friends, which is a mixed gym class, and an after-school Friendship Club. Through all of these activities my daughter has met and maintained friendships that have continued even after the kids graduated from South and gone onto college."

Circle of Friends is a program very unique to Middletown: Students are selected to skip gym class and instead have gym with students with special needs. The students create teams and play against each other. It's how Claire met Chip last year. And this year, it's how she met Jeremy. Joyce, a senior at Middletown South, is also a varsity football and baseball standout and he was one of the students asked by the school to volunteer for Circle of Friends.

But Jeremy didn't stop there: He is also one of the many Middletown South football players who volunteer on Saturdays to play football with students with special needs, as part of the Challenger Program.

"Middletown schools really foster great friendships and relationships to make these kids feel like they're not different," said Jeremy's mom, Denise. "I'm so happy he said yes when Claire asked him to go to prom. I'm so proud of both of them."

Claire has been wearing her tiara and sash every day to school since, her mother said.

Past Patch articles: A Junior Prom They'll Both Remember